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Game Summaries
Herein you will find the chronicles of adventures past, since the founding of Tavern Town and the first glimmerings of "civilisation" in the Guardian Vale... 647 MR (2016) One - Weftward Bound Adventurers from across Scy'kadia converge on the relatively peaceful Vale, struggling to clear out the resident monsters & bandits via a display of martial supremacy... taking the hill! Despite being outnumbered, the forces of the Camp of Shadow under the sultry & sinister Lady Gideon win the day. As reward for their victory, the Narga lead Gideon to the first of several shards, each belonging to a Relic of Whalash... Two - Relic Hunters The three camps manage to track down the Relic's four pieces, forming a stone tablet for use in a Ruinous ritual. Driven by their earlier failings, the Camp of Light rally & capture the tablet, keeping it from Shadow's clutches... Three - The Tablet Of Night Warriors of Light & Shadow scramble to collect what they need for conflicting rituals; one to destroy the tablet, the other to unleash unnatural darkness upon the Vale. The Taverner, by the request of a mysterious noble client, attempts to secure the Relic for simple profit... but is eventual swayed by the beseeching words of both Hafthor & Audrey of Camp Light & assists in the tablet's destruction. During the course of events, Hrafn of Camp Light is turned to the side of Shadow, thus beginning a tale of lost souls & treachery... Four - Getting Down To Business With the imminent threat of a dark ritual gone for now, the camps return to their treasure hunting ways. Hrafn's service to the Narga is cemented & he is truly unleashed against his once-allies for the first time, assisting the Orcs of Shadow Camp in their bloody search for elf ears. Beset by uncertainty, the forces of Light attempt to capture some Undead for Kree, the God of Death... but their desire to also appease the forgiving Golden Mother wins out & they release their captives. The Taverner places a bounty upon the capture of a poisoner active in the Vale. Finally, several runes of ancient elven origin appear in the bark of nearby trees & some clever scholarly adventurers manage to determine a translation... the rumoured monster trapped beneath Guardian Hill seems to be waking up... Five - The Tourney The mysterious noble client, revealed as Lord Strigos, resurfaces to sponsor a tournament. Beginning to foresee the trouble this noble could cause, The Taverner obliges him, hosting the event. Strigos watches through an arcane orb as events, sure enough, turn violent. Several fantastic duels ensue, whilst in the background a ritual is enacted upon the warrior Kochab, awakening the dormant demon Fen'hyrel within his blood. The Dwarf Dillia uses her hammer "Last Laugh" to destroy the viewing orb, nearly putting a stop to the entire tournament. Things swiftly spiral out of control, devolving into a swirling melee & in the midst of this chaos, Gideon traps Strigos' sight within a skull, before placing it within a sealed chest... blinding him... Six - Plague Of Woes A plague called The Scarlet Hand begins to spread in Guardian Vale, putting strain on available antidote rations & scaring off many traders. Expecting Strigos' vengeful will to be involved, the camps each search for the source of the illness. Meanwhile, Camp of Light fail to rid the Vale of the demon Fen'hyrel, Camp of Shadow enact a ritual to hide themselves from Strigos' sorcerous activities, & yet more runes begin to appear in the landscape... this time they appear to be demonic in nature & they whisper that the recently spilled blood is assisting in the trapped monster's nearing wakefulness. At last, the source of the plague is discovered... the broken shell of Strigos' orb, still in the hands of Dillia & The Adventurers League... Seven - Defenders Of Light A sword of the God Voy'himloc is uncovered from Guardian Hill & the Camp of Light are quick to set up a defensive perimeter around it. Three loremasters devise three separate ways (rituals) of drawing the sword out of it's resting place... but they are waylaid by a troll & their research is lost, forcing the rival camps to go searching. A scheme is hatched by Strigos' agents to free him from Gideon's influence... they are successful, thanks largely to an unsuspecting mercenary & thief... Suspecting that the removal of the sword will somehow speed the waking process of Guardian Hill's captive monster, The Taverner organises a small army of mercs to drive through the forces of Light & secure the hill. The Taverner himself utters a ritual to drive the sword deep down into the ground from whence it came... but his magical abilities are taken with it... Eight - Bad Moon Rising Strigos, now freed & furious, puts a half dozen schemes in motion... he turns The Taverner into an owl, summons several agents into a small but elite warband, even tricks some members of Light Camp into supporting his vengeful ambitions. Thinking himself beyond defeat, Strigos comes to the vale in search of Gideon & the Nephilim healer Alexius... and is soundly defeated! The forces of Guardian Vale rally around their known leaders against the foreign invader, despite his use of their sometime allies. With the Blood Moon full overhead, the Shifters of the vale run amuck. When ensnared with a Relic of Strigos' devising, they become less chaotic, but continue to change hands... Strigos' one victory throughout the conflict is his spiteful murder of Maxwell Eisenhorn, who dies offering himself in exchange for his friend, Alexius. In the closing moments, the demons Fen'hyrel & Tempus (revealed to have been possessing Hrafn) unleash the enslaved Shifters, using them to capture Strigos for their own nefarious purposes... Nine - Dastardly Devils Fen'hyrel declares himself the king of the Weft, and he and Tempus try to subjugate all beneath their demonic thumbs. The beleaguered heroes of Guardian Vale suffer defeat after defeat against the demons, before finally managing to separate them long enough to bring each of them down. Tempus is ripped from Hrafn's body and imprisoned beneath Guardian Hill, sealing the beast in place and freeing Jo'v's magic, while Fen'hyrel is bound once again within Kochab the Broken's corrupted blood. Ten - The Map The Taverner announces to all and sundry that he has come into possession of an enchanted map of the Inner Weft, and plans to lead an expedition in search of treasure and glory! Surprisingly, he manages to retain possession of said map until the end of the day - and as preparations for the sojourn get underway, the observant note with unease that Rovic Vervidsen seems to have come into the possession of an all too familiar item: the Mask of Lord Strigos... First Weekender - Sojourn Weftward The Weftward expedition arrives near an old Weftyril fortification that houses a dormant portal - a portal that is beginning to awaken. A pair of itinerant paladins of Lianda named Mary and Campbell join the adventurers - but as night falls, they turn into the very thing they swore to fight: vampire brood lords. On the first night, they feast on the blood of the living, leaving everyone "inexplicably" tired and weak the next morning. Jo'v attempts to solve the mystery of a slain trader of his acquaintance, while Light seeks out Janus and finds him corrupted and insane - with the mark of an owl nearby. On the second night, the vampires are caught and subdued, and are horrified to learn what they had become. As the portal's power reaches its zenith the next day, the Taverner and a band of mercenaries and Light Camp adherents claim the fort and are whisked away to the frozen lands of Vylkland. Eleven - The Hatchling On their trip through the Weftyril portal, the adventurers who journeyed to Vylkland picked up a stowaway: a gold dragon hatchling, which the Light Camp fire elementari Asher adopted as her own child and named Sparky. As news of this spreads across the Vale, the various factions take up their arms and go once again to battle, with the hatchling as the prize. In the end, Sparky remains in Asher's custody thanks to a deal with Gideon. Twelve - Atonement Displeased by recent transgressions on the part of their servants, the Gods demand the Camp of Light atone for their sins by bringing forth Gideon in chains. Meanwhile, Rovic and his cronies "persuade" more adventurers to swear oaths on Strigos' Mask... Thirteen - A Dread Eclipse Lord Strigos returns to take his revenge on those who defied him - inhabiting the body of Rovic, who has fallen completely under the sway of the Mask. Leading an army of bound thralls and a vicious Hellspawn, Strigos drives the defenders out of Tavern Town in an early victory - but the Hellspawn is captured in the battle and the Ruinous sceptre commanding it falls into the hands of the adventurers, depriving the wicked sorcerer of a key weapon which is later turned against him (and worse - revealed to be the missing Alexius, corrupted by a demonic ritual). The Vale's defenders rally and destroy Strigos' mask and his severed head, the last anchors binding him to this world, before forcing his foul spirit out of Rovic's body and into Ruin, where Gideon imprisons him for (hopefully) all eternity... Fourteen - Little Beasties Not long after Strigos' demise, a band of demon-worshipping goblins kidnap the undead healer Keft and spread mischief and mayhem across the Vale. In the Camp of Light, the Gods have sent a new Sentinel, an elementari named Haruki - but Alexius remains trapped in the form of a hideous beast. The Camp of Light tracks down a message from the Golden Mother herself to restore him to his true form, but he is tormented by what he has done as a Hellspawn and left without his divine powers. Fifteen - Objects and Omens A daring coup orchestrated by Mortimus of the 37th Regiment of Foot ousts Jo'v from the Blinded Boar as the swaggering Valarian mercenary appoints himself Mayor of Tavern Town. Jo'v enlists the help of the other adventurers of the Vale to put Mortimus in his place and reclaim what is rightfully his. Meanwhile, Alexius sacrifices his energy to the Crown of the Martyr on his brow to revive a fallen ally, and regains his divine powers from this act of atonement. Sixteen - Tide of Shadow The Narga thirst for blood, and the forces of Shadow answer the call, taking up arms to gather as much of the vital fluid as possible from anyone they can find. The forces of Light beat back the darkness again and again (and find time, in the process, to calm the raging shifter Sonya Skadisdottir) - but Gideon's wiles, and a grand tournament, help the Voice of Ruin gather all the blood she needs regardless. Seventeen - Army at the Gates An army of marauding orcs masses south of the Vale, ready to sweep through and destroy and/or pillage everything in its path. Adventurers frantically search for a way to avert the coming carnage, and in the end, The Smiling Dragons gather enough coin to pay the horde to go somewhere else - just as an army of penitent knights summoned by the Camp of Light arrive to save the day. Eighteen - Howling Spirits As Geth's three moons come into conjunction, shifters in the Vale are unable to resist the Blood Moon's call and shed their humanoid forms. Spirits run wild, possessing unsuspecting mortals, and the power of magic begins to increase, with mages feeling an extra "kick" to their spells. Special flowers are said to be able to soothe the savage beasts, but the Camp of Light gathers and burns them, believing the shifters should be allowed to run free. As the sun sets, the Smiling Dragons claim the Weft stone and the spoils within the hill - but stumble upon more than they had bargained for... Nineteen - Dead By Sundown The Smiling Dragons emerge from the catacombs of Guardian Hill as mindless, shambling zombies bent on spreading their curse among the living. Judas Tor and Lord Victor take command of the horde in the name of Phlemortis and Zeleel, and find their ranks greatly bolstered after an ill-advised offensive by Jo'v against the Camp of Light ends in a bloody rout by the undead. Though the dwindling living adventurers of the Vale find a way to cure those afflicted, they can't administer it fast enough, and soon (with the help of a few treacherous mercenaries) almost all join the horde clawing at the walls of Tavern Town, trying to devour those huddled inside, before the relic that cursed them finally dissolves and sets them free. Twenty - Elemental Calamity The wild magic running loose in the Vale reaches its peak, as Hrafn is revealed to have become a living locus. The Vale's elementari population is driven to mad obsession by the raw sorcery emanating from the half-elf's body, and abduct him to keep him safe from the predations of those who would exploit him - unfortunately, however, they fail, and Hrafn is slain by Gideon, putting an end to the wild magic. He is later resurrected by the Camp of Light within the Archon Wood, but will forever bear the scars... Twenty-One - The Game After the recent tumultuous upheavals, the adventurers of the Vale take the opportunity to let their hair down with a tourney centred on a brutal but entertaining new sport: trollball! Other contests take place around the main event, including a Krakiid knife fight, a mages' duel, a battle royale, a test of faith, and an intriguing "Nether Duel" that casts the spirits of several mages into the realm of Nether to battle for arcane supremacy. Twenty-Two - Feast of Foul Fortune The Vale celebrates the holiday known as the "Golden Feast of Giving", but a dark pall hangs over the festivities as a mysterious plague of bad luck seems to grow worse with every passing hour. Adventurers set out to recover several valuable gifts from a ransacked caravan bound for a nearby exile kingdom, while Jo'v attempts to protect a rare Vylkland pine he has acquired to replace the treasures. It is revealed that Avner of Lindenvale became possessed by a malevolent wraith during the "Nether Duel" several weeks prior, which had been using him to create cursed relics from the stolen treasures. Avner is subdued and the wraith driven out, ending the bad luck - but unfortunately for Jo'v, the forces of Light abscond with the tree (though the stolen treasures are, in the end, recovered). Additionally, evidence is discovered of a monster stalking caravans in the area - though what it is remains yet unknown. 648 MR (2017) Twenty-Three - Crusade With the dawn of a new year, the Camp of Light embarks on a holy offensive to make up for its setbacks in 647. The servants of the Gods easily destroy a goblin-made shrine to the Narga and consecrate their own altar in defiance of the Nine - however, their victory is not complete, as in the day's dying moments the Sentinel Haruki is captured by the forces of Shadow. Twenty-Four - Wicked Sparks The Camp of Light reclaims their captured Sentinel early in the day, and the Vale's adventurers attempt to track down the scattered notes of a naturalist who had been savaged by the hippogriff threatening local traders. The Brotherhood of the Kraken seeks a missing ship (which they find burned by their foes in the 37th Regiment of Foot). Light exorcises a troublesome spirit from Kori Ryudon, while Shadow spends the day gathering loose imps - before launching a vicious attack and dragging Haruki away once more in chains. Duran Greyhand, formerly of Light, uses the Sentinel as fuel for a Ruinous ritual that destroys the Weft stone... and begins to siphon the magic from the area. Twenty-Five - Raiders As a Ruinous vortex gathers strength over the shattered Weft stone, draining sorcery from the Vale, a band of orcish raiders arrives to test the mettle of its defenders. With Jo'v missing, Gideon gone and Haruki having retreated, the Vale's adventurers nonetheless rout the orc band and capture its leader Grimbad, who reveals that they had been paid by a Thaedian ex-commander named Lynus Kartor to abduct Jo'v and scout the Vale's strength. Meanwhile, tensions between the Brotherhood of the Kraken and the 37th Regiment of Foot boil over into all-out warfare, the Kraken seeking Valarian blood in revenge for its burned ship; and unscrupulous tavern owner Beetle steals the Camp of Light's beloved dragon hatchling Sparky. Twenty-Six - The Celestial The Ruinous vortex reaches its height, with mages unable to perform even the simplest of cantrips - but into the Vale strides some unexpected aid for the Camp of Light. Alexius has returned from a long journey, and with him appears to be none other than Maxwell Eisenhorn, returned from the dead. In truth, however, this is a celestial wearing Maxwell's form, and to the dismay of his former friends, he sacrifices himself to end the vortex's grip on the Vale's magic. With that threat nullified, Light and the Brotherhood of the Kraken set their sights on recovering Sparky during an auction where Beetle plans to sell him to the highest bidder. They rescue the dragon and cure him of his poisoning, and in retaliation, Asher obliterates Beetle's tavern with a rune of arcane fire - for which she is arrested, to be placed on trial by the Camp of Light for destruction of property... Twenty-Seven - The Pack After a month of wild weather batters the Vale, Jo'v leaves to investigate, placing Gideon (temporarily) in charge of Tavern Town. The Blood Moon grows full, and the local shifters run rampant, killing and/or maiming everything that crosses their path. Adventurers suffer heavy losses dealing with the rampaging pack, and are unable to quell the beasts' rage by day's end - the pack breaks down the doors of Tavern Town and ravages its defenders, leaving the people of Guardian Vale waiting anxiously for the moon to wane. Twenty-Eight - Trial and Tribulation The long-awaited trial finally arrives. Jo'v summons Asher, Beetle, and their defenders to determine just who was most responsible for the destruction of the Tipsy Pixie. Speaking for Beetle, Duran and Thifgrim Stormchaser argue that Asher's actions injured not just Beetle, but those whose livelihoods and possessions were in the Pixie - and that the shifter York may have been inside at the time. In rebuttal, Alexius points out that it was Beetle who escalated the situation to the point where Asher snapped, by kidnapping and tormenting Sparky for weeks. After deliberation by three neutral jurors, it is determined that both were partly responsible. Beetle and Asher will each have to pay for a share of the damages; in addition, Beetle will be poisoned with something similar to what he afflicted Sparky with, and Asher will have to help recover York's remains. Meanwhile, Haruki, driven by the commands of the Gods, leads Light on a crusade to force Ruinous healers, dark mages, and cambions to repent and be cleansed of their evil; and Shadow, sensing a demonic tide approaching, prepares themselves for the dark days to come... Twenty-Nine - Monsters Within, Monsters Without A surge of Ruinous magic ripples outward from the Inner Weft, which results in a rare and terrible sight: three true demons of Gorgos, unleashed on the Guardian Vale. One by one they assault the defenders of Light and Tavern Town - but a more sinister threat lurks among the defenders. Lesser demons have escaped Ruin as well, and taken up residence in the bodies of the Spellsword Thaddeus J. Smithington-Smythe, and Marinka and Malkior of the Brotherhood of the Kraken. As Gorgos' monsters wreak obvious havoc, the insidious infiltrators whisper behind the defenders' lines, sowing chaos and discord. In the end, the 37th Regiment of Foot lead the charge to slaughter the greater demons, while Thaddeus is exorcised by the Honest Vale Trading Company - though Marinka and Malkior flee to the protection of Shadow. Meanwhile, a ritual performed by the HVTC causes much irritation as every scrap of silver in the Vale is transmuted to weigh down its bearer; and the hapless pixie reporter Blue tries - with little success - to evade the wrath of Gideon for a most unflattering depiction in his newspaper. Thirty - No Thanks For Heroes With Haruki absent, the Camp of Light rallies around his fellow wood elementari Clementine to destroy a trio of Ruinous monuments upon Guardian Hill, and succeeds - thus finally dissipating the tide of demonic energy that yet lingered. With that mission accomplished, war is waged over the bodies of several pixies who had met their untimely demise - one is resurrected by Langat, but another ends up a snack for the dark elf shifter Blaez. Meanwhile, Blue's disguise as "Blorf the Dwarf" entirely fails to deliver him from his tormentors; local bard Bronwyn seeks help recovering pages stolen from her songbook (each with strange riddles written on them); the elementari Bannin slits Hrafn's throat (again); and the 37th, while on the warpath against Light and Shadow alike (including one temporary abduction of Gideon herself), find themselves afflicted by a strange and embarrassing curse that makes them deathly afraid of their own firearms and forces Kaiz to refer to himself as "Slappy Tinklebottom" - and all this on the anniversary of their arrival in the Weft! Thirty-One - Of Ghosts & Glory As wayward ghosts, disturbed from their rest, drift into the Vale to haunt the living, the local adventurers engage in a day of scheming and bloody battles. The Camp of Light attempts to press the advantage granted by Clementine, empowered by Taeyaloo, to plant a shrine to Gowlur in the Sneak's Wood - but the Ruinous poisoner Clair Nuire captures her former friend and corrupts her magical might, turning the elementari against her allies until Light manages to save her. The unquiet dead trick the living into helping them ensnare an elf mage named Echo, recently returned to flesh after wandering as a ghost for centuries, and temporarily shrive her of her mortal shell once again until the Tavern Guard destroy the spectral culprit's anchor and free her from the spirit realm. The Taverner and Beetle engage in a game of bluffing, wheeling and dealing over a relic necklace and the antidote to Beetle's poisoning (his punishment from the trial), only for the Brotherhood of the Kraken to take the amulet for themselves and use it to transform Thifgrim Stormchaser into a hideous tentacled monstrosity that requires the might of the entire Vale to bring down. The 37th sets out to honour the spirits of their deceased ancestors, collectively known as the "Soul of Valar", which includes breaking the curse placed upon them by none other than the spellsword Thaddeus - his revenge for a laundry list of grievances. Blue, spurred on by powers granted by his pixie brethren, punishes Gideon and Shadow with a series of pranks - though the last one backfires when it gives Shadow enough time to hold off one last push by Light to plant their shrine. And lastly, the skull of an Arkhosian necromancer named Churleon Gult goes missing, along with the shifter Deimos... Thirty-Two - Tavern Brawl With a number of upstart taverns cropping up throughout the Vale, conflict soon erupts over - of all things - several barrels of rare dwarven ale, desired by just about everyone. In the end, after much scheming and battle, Jo'v, Light, and Shadow each end up with a barrel to call their own. Meanwhile, seers and oracles begin seeing dire warnings of an approaching threat: flaming swords, hideous cackling, madness, a full blood moon, and the number nine... Thirty-Three - Madness Ascendant The great threat foreseen by the oracles of the Vale finally arrives - a twisted Valkyrie of Balrof, driven to Ruinous madness by Lokus the Cackler and bound within the body of a nameless warrior. With a horde of adventurers at his side driven mad by their own derangements, as well as defenders who had fallen before him and been bound to his will, the Valkyrie lays waste to both the Camp Of Shadow and the Camp Of Light (overcoming the best efforts of their inhabitants) with barrels of explosive powder. Despite this, Light wins two not-insignificant victories - finally purging Oblitus and Ranus of their evil halves. Meanwhile, the Blood Moon is full, and the Vale's shifters run rampant under the leadership of Deimos - who is strangely lucid, for a moon-form shifter. As it transpires, he has fallen fully under the control of Churleon Gult, who uses his body and his own necromantic powers to raise an army of his own. In the end, the Camp of Shadow removes Gult's influence and wrests control of a pair of shifters from the pack, then uses them to tear to pieces a wandering monk who had arrived in the Vale - the last shard of sense and reason the Valkyrie had possessed, set free and given mortal form. With the monk's death, the Valkyrie is defeated, and sanity (such as it is) returns to the Vale - temporarily, anyway... Thirty-Four - The Pieces Gather With the forward camps of both Light and Shadow left in smoking ruins after the mad Valkyrie's rampage, their loyal followers venture forth to find material to rebuild. Shadow amasses more than enough, while Light scrapes together everything they need by the skin of their teeth. Meanwhile, tokens from three mysterious patrons show up in the Vale - two crossed keys belonging to Countess Delavaen of Arkhos, claimed by Blue and Avner; a lion belonging to an old adversary, Lynus Kartor of the Thaedian Legion, claimed by the Chosen of Shadow; and a grey owl belonging to an unknown lord, claimed by the Honest Vale Trading Company... Thirty-Five - Final Preparations Envoys of the three patrons appear to exhort their followers to recruit more for their armies - the goal: an expedition into the Inner Weft! Though two of the parties are slightly confused, as Kartor's envoy meets with the HVTC, while the envoy of one "Lord Strickland" seeks out Shadow instead... regardless, all three feverishly conscript and cajole adventurers into their vanguard forces and, in a prelude to the battles to come, clash again and again over that classic old prize - Guardian Hill! Meanwhile, local bard Diego Buenaventura seeks help from adventurers to piece together a drunken night and finish a new magnum opus; a number of adventurers find themselves brutally maimed and tortured at the hands of Shadow; and Jo'v invites adventurers of all stripes to test their mettle in swordcraft, stealth and song. Second Weekender - A War of Three After days of battling monsters on their way to the Inner Weft, the advance forces of the three patrons, accompanied by their envoys, converge on a collection of ruined buildings from the old human kingdom of Yenrad, which fell around the end of the Time of Mage Blight. The focus of everyone's attention: a mysterious fort, now mostly rubble and loose stone, which nonetheless occupies all three sides as they vie for its capture; meanwhile, in between attacks by shard hounds and grand melee tournaments, Jo'v and those caught in the middle try to find out just what the sard is going on. After a terrifying attack by wraiths at night, the second day dawns and brings with it plenty of secrets: Countess Delavaen, a nephilim, is afflicted by a Ruinous curse; Legate Lithia, Kartor's envoy, is rumoured to have draconic scales; and nobody ''seems to know what Lord Strickland is up to, outside his necromancer envoy's (widely disbelieved) claims that he is simply an archaeology enthusiast - but everyone discovers that the fort conceals the bones of an ancient dragon. Further shocks ensue at an impromptu ball thrown by Gideon, at which all three envoys are poisoned with hallucinogenic mushrooms - and Rovic, returned from his travels, is accused of planting the mask of Lord Strigos (or one that looks ''very much like it) on Drako, the envoy of Lord Strickland. The Vylklander agrees to a dance with Gideon herself, which ends when the Voice of Ruin guts him and leaves him to die on the floor, surrounded by horrified onlookers. On the third day, as the main armies of each patron approach, the expedition descends into an all-out frenzied brawl as Countess Delavaen's followers, led by envoy Harkaleon Grailward and bolstered by the 37th, who defected from Kartor, desperately fend off a siege by Kartor and Strickland's depleted vanguards (who are themselves bolstered by a fearsome ogre commanded by an inquisitive Thaedian philosopher). As the dust finally settles, the armies arrive to find the Countess's troops, bloodied and battered but defiantly holding the fort with crossed-key banners flying high. Lord Strickland, revealed to be a wizened old man, heads a horde of... scholars and archaeologists, who shrug their shoulders and go home. Less agreeable is Lynus Kartor, a powerfully-built man with draconic scales and reptilian eye, who sneers at his captured envoy as the Countess's knights and templars rush in to secure the fort completely. The Countess, true to her envoy's promises, leads her army in the excavation and destruction of the dragon bones, thus ensuring they could never be used for any fell purpose - but as Kartor leaves, the adventurers are left with the distinct impression that this matter might not quite be over... Thirty-Six - Troublesome Returns As the wearied adventurers return home from the Yenrady ruins, they are greeted by a band of Vylkland raiders from the town of Skovby, led by Andariel Ingridsen and his husband Eadwulf Andersen, seeking fortune and glory (and relics). Said relics change hands multiple times over the course of the day as pitched battles break out all over the Vale. Meanwhile, Jo'v seeks information on several newcomers; a number of people die gruesome deaths; and the ever-credulous Blue is convinced by a pair of dashing rapscallions that he has phenomenal and dangerous arcane power (literally) at his fingertips. Thirty-Seven - Pride and Consequence With Jo'v "dead" by the hand (specifically, finger) of Blue, "Blorf the Dwarf" makes a not-so-triumphant return to the Vale, complete with a pasta strainer helmet, as an old friend of the Taverner's - a dwarf cleric of Kree named Torok - comes in search of his "killer". The hapless pixie eventually confesses to his heinous crime, whereupon he is informed that Jo'v was never dead and he should really be more careful about the nonsense he chooses to believe in future. Meanwhile, the followers of Light find themselves on the receiving end of their gods' wrath; the 37th are hunted by forces seeking their capture; the Grinning Blades suffer at the hands of Shadow and the new company of Black Thorns; Maia has seven hells beaten out of her for her torturing ways; Shadow performs a draconic ritual; Thaddeus struggles to promote good sword safety; and alchemist-assassin Jorska seeks adventurers willing to smack each other with a severed arm for his amusement. Thirty-Eight - Killer Competition Jo'v celebrates his return from the "grave" with another tournament, combining Trollball with a grand melee - both events handily won by the forces of Shadow. As the games unfold, however, a mystery lurks in the shadows - a young pale-haired elf girl was murdered with a rare and gruesome poison from the Fey Ring Isles, and she was last seen with a figure of short to medium height, dressed all in black. After eliminating a couple of the usual suspects, the finger of suspicion points to Thousand Eyed Chiropt, lately departed from the Vale - but with no solid evidence either way... Meanwhile, Axel the alchemist is restored to his flesh after the forces of Light drive out the demon that had taken his body; Kori Ryudon reverts to his former, less congenial personality Xalicos, but is set right by his brothers of the Kraken; an old Crone from the Inner Weft demands reparations from the adventurers who so rudely invaded her home during the War of Three; and Beetle is taught a lesson in why one does not attempt to abscond with the proceeds of the Kraken's bookmaking operation. Thirty-Nine - Horsing Around A strange curse brings a trio of addled and vicious "reverse centaurs" to the Vale, who stampede around wreaking havoc and mayhem (despite being captured several times) before the forces of Light, led by The Wardens of the Vale, manage to lock them down and send them back to their herd for treatment. Meanwhile, Shadow seeks the missing Voice of Ruin; the Wardens liberate their captured friend Filius from the demon-worshippers' clutches; Hamr the tavern guard finds himself in an unwelcome engagement with a certain Crone; and Chiropt sends an exploding bard to spy on the Vale. Forty - Dead By Moonlight A plague demon of Phlemortis is birthed into the world, inhabiting the body of a fallen paladin, which causes the necromancers of the Vale to find their spells curiously... infectious. As the blood moon shines full once again, Light and the 37th join forces with several other adventurers who wish to remain living and try to uncover the source of the undead plague. Though their efforts to exorcise the demon prove fruitless, they are able to keep the zombie scourge largely contained and seize the hill by nightfall. Meanwhile, Shadow's efforts to perform a ritual for their missing Voice of Ruin are thwarted by their godly foes; the late Bannin bequeaths his riches to whosoever finds his three rings; and the Vale's rogues engage in various acts of skulduggery. Forty-One - Something Borrowed The big day has arrived - Hamr the tavern guard is to be wed to Latrine the crone! The adventurers of the Vale gather to celebrate the unlikely union... but alas, when the ceremony begins, a certain alchemist slips the groom some Shifter's Lament in his drink, and the blushing bride becomes a bleeding-out bride in short order. Hamr is subdued and reverted to human form, but there's no saving Latrine, much to her poor granddaughter's grief and anger. Meanwhile, an angry elemental searches for some lost Yenrady scrolls; Shadow seizes and destroys a relic bell from Light; the plague demon raises - and then loses - an army; and Gideon finally makes her long-awaited return. Forty-Two - All Work, No Play Haruki has been captured, and his only hope is for Light to find a map to his location and the key to his cell. Unfortunately, their severely depleted numbers mean the godly warriors are no match for Shadow, and they fail to retrieve either of these items - leaving their Sentinel in chains in the Sneak's Wood. Meanwhile, Jo'v seeks truesilver bricks to add to the walls of the Blinded Boar, most of which end up in the hands of marauding orcs; Jorska distributes poisonous bombs that will go off if held still; and a sporting grand melee is disrupted by a vampire with a cask of venom. Forty-Three - Seeds of Doubt The day dawns dark and cloudy, with ominous news: seers across the Vale have dreamed of betrayal, and stolen faces. As the adventurers ponder what this could mean, the forces of Shadow drag Haruki, beaten, bloodied and tortured, out to the Weft stone. To the surprise of their enemies in Light, Shadow gives up the Sentinel without much of a fight (though with plenty of jeering and taunting) - though battle comes soon after, interrupted only by the detonation of a cask of poison, courtesy of Axel. A lull falls as the camps lick their wounds, and the hunt for the face-stealers continues - but not long after Jo'v and his alchemists concoct an antidote, all turns to chaos as a chorus of hideous screams erupts all over the Vale. Almost twenty adventurers, having bound servants to their will, reveal themselves as plant-based doppelgangers sent to capture victims for their "mother" to feast on. They retreat, fighting, to the Treelings, where one impersonating Hrafn had earlier performed a ritual to protect them, with the help of the spore clone of Edward and the unwitting help of Malkior, from what turns out to be their greatest enemy: fire. Though the spore-creatures fight viciously, turning adventurers left and right, the battle ends when their leader - the one impersonating Alexius - is taken down and burned to ash. The rest are swiftly massacred, and soon after, the originals return, weary and sickened (and largely nude) from their ordeal. The day draws to a close with a return to normalcy - fighting between Light and Shadow, and the capture of the hill... though, in a rare twist, it is Jo'v and a group of new adventurers, working with the Brotherhood, who claim the prize. Forty-Four - A Game of War The Golden Feast of Giving has come again, but the Vale is in no mood for peace and love. With his missing adventurers returned, Haruki rallies the forces of Light to punish Shadow for his imprisonment and torture, while Gideon and Shadow are determined to wipe out their godly foes once and for all. Jo'v, seeing the civilians of Tavern Town caught in the middle, raises an army of his own to demonstrate to both sides where the Vale's true strength lies. Each side anoints a champion, empowered with supernatural might to lay their enemies low: Sigurd of Light, Corax of the 37th, and Galanath of Shadow. Bolstered by the arrival of new followers, Light wins a string of victories against both Shadow and Tavern Town, seizing and holding a locus of power on Guardian Hill for much of the day and defending it against all comers - interrupted by sudden treachery from within Tavern Town's ranks, when Edward D'eath of the Brotherhood reveals himself to be an assassin of the Ruinous Cult of the Night Hawk, sent to kill Jo'v himself. Edward is executed for his trouble by tavern guard Hamr and his body burned away to nothing. In the day's dying moments, minions of Shadow steal a pair of relics: the last two fragments of Haruki's soul, which had steadily been destroyed over the course of months. In a ferocious duel, Gideon strikes Haruki down and - before Light can stop her - runs him through, killing the Sentinel where he lies. Enraged and grief-stricken, Light pours from its position on the hill to punish the followers of the Nine, leaving the 37th to capture its power. Corax finds himself the host of an ancient elven spirit, temporarily severed from his connection to the ancestor-ghosts of the Soul of Valar. As Light mourns that night, an unnatural storm portends to many that perhaps their time in the Weft is over - but as dawn breaks, a new figure strides into their camp, a blind, scarred elf wielding a mighty greatsword in an arm of living stone. A new Sentinel has arrived - and one that seems far less peaceful than the old... 649 MR (2018) Forty-Five - Stormy Beginnings As the new year dawns, a powerful storm approaches the Vale - but mysteriously turns aside and dissipates at the last moment, leading many to suspect sorcerous intervention. Indeed this seems to be the case, with the Weft's mages finding their lightning spells worryingly powerful, and the hunt is on for the person or persons to blame. Eventually Causter and Szebastion are found responsible, and attempt a ritual to undo their meddling - but it backfires spectacularly, as evidently there was a third mage involved, who remains at large. With their new Sentinel busy fortifying Archon Wood, an outnumbered and exhausted Camp of Light finds it impossible to retain possession of a cursed dagger, as Shadow and an army of mercenaries continually overwhelm them - complicating matters is the fact that whoever wields the dagger refuses to give it up, or even acknowledge they hold it. After a valiant attempt to reclaim it, Light loses it for the final time as Shadow claims the hill as well. Meanwhile, Galanath finds his patience tested while trying to uncover who wrote him a strange love letter; a number of troublesome (and not-so-troublesome) denizens of the Vale find themselves on the receiving ends of bounties; and many adventurers find themselves wondering where one can get a glass of dog milk around here.